And now, the end is near.
And so I face the final curtain.
Yep…we’ve come to the end of the month-long blogging marathon. (And not a day too soon as I was seriously fearful of Dude-fatigue setting in.)
And what a month it’s been. We started with a celebration and then every time I thought I’d run out of things to write about, something came up.
Whether it was Dominos, the Today Show, the NFCA, Miss Kardashian, Chevys Tex Mex or PF Changs, there was no shortage of celiac topics.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, as most of the news was frustrating to the celiac community.
But we asked for Celiac Awareness and boy did we get it.
But I am hopeful that we’ve also come to a new beginning.
– A beginning of a new era of celiac awareness.
– A beginning of the medical community correctly diagnosing celiac disease in less than the 7 years it currently takes on average.
– A beginning of celiac disease being taken as seriously as other diseases.
– A beginning of the end of the gluten-free fad diet.
– A beginning of restaurants knowing that half-ass efforts won’t suffice for us.
I want to give a special shout-out to my four guest bloggers this month: My lovely wife, my awesome daughter, my great friend, and my cool cousin. It was interesting to view celiac disease through your eyes.
Ironically, those four blog posts were some the most popular ones of the month. What does that tell you?!? Actually, I don’t want to know.
And naturally, a HUGE thanks to all of you.
This blog is all about community. And by sharing your stories and your voices, you have helped me, each other and countless more.
Kudos to you.
And one final thought: The end of celiac awareness month does not mean the end of celiac awareness. Let’s all keep it up.
I’ll see you in June (wait…that’s tomorrow!!)
I enjoyed your month-long Celiac Awareness posts, G-dude.
You did a great job working so hard to inform and enlighten.
You’re also pretty funny. Keep your sense of humor, kiddo–it’s a celiac’s best weapon.
Rock on!
All the best, IH
Thanks for all you do!
Thank you Dude! It has been a great month reading all your blogs…old and new!!!! I WILL continue to read so keep up the good work. Laughs, tears, anger…it’s run the gamut! Donna 🙂
Thanks for a great month!! I love your humour (Canadian spelling) and your abilty to articulate the social dilemas associated with Celiac. Better to be frustrated together, try to create positive awareness and know we are not alone than to go it alone and think that I am nuts for being so demanding in the name of my health!
Thanks, Dude! Your take on things is amazingly refreshing. I learn more from you than from the dozens (hundreds?) of other gluten free blogs on a regular basis.
You done good, Dude!
Misery loves company. It’s good to get it off the chest once in awhile with others and feel normal. Thanks for the opportunity to raise my awareness of many topics.
I also appreciate your security question – I am better at math than reading squiggly letters on other blogs where I don’t always get it right the first time and the blood pressure rises.
Thank you so much for all the blogs this month. It is good to know that we are not alone in this. That some of the things we are going through someone else is also. Like Donna said Misery loves company.
awesome job on the 31 posts! Each one was unique and interesting! Now can you take a rest? 🙂
Thanks GD. I stumbled across your blog when you asked, “can we help Linda,” I was very frustrated at that time, my husband was not being all that supportive, (got his attention after the ER visit), and then you did this month long blog which was funny, interesting, and just what I needed. Lots of passionate folks out there and I thank them as well.
Heads up on prescription meds. I was taking a drug that Abbot labs could not confirm it was gluten free, the pharmacist told me they don’t add any gluten, but b/c of their different suppliers they could not guarantee GF, but he thought it was safe. Went off of it for a month just to see if it did effect me, started again 2 days ago, and got glutened. Same symptoms came back, cramps, gut feels like it is on fire, in the bathroom all day, ugh!
After my diagnosis I kept having lingering problems, each day was a little different, could not put my finger on it. The bread machine was one, it had been used before with reg. bread. The pan that was used to cook cream of wheat, (why the hell is that in this house!), and so on. It has taken 2 1/2 months to learn where the hidden gluten is and try to totally illuminate the contagion. I am on the road to recovery, but this blog and my experience with celiac disease, made me think that celiac disease must be one of the few diseases where a person can potentially get sick every day of their lives no matter how hard we try, (to not get sick.) I guess food allergy sufferers is one, but that does not permanently harm the body. Crohn’s disease. Diabetes too. Not very many, but we suffer the most b/c we are not taken as seriously as the other illnesses I just mentioned. Tell a server you have diabetes and want the unsweetened tea, and by golly you’ll get it, (and know the difference too). Tell a server you can’t eat gluten and by golly you’ll get a look like Donald Duck just whispered in their ear.
I did have a good experience this past weekend. It was my b-day, hubby and I went to a resort on the ocean. I called the rest. and spoke with the chef, when we arrived he came to our table and I said, I’m not just worried about the food, I’m worried about cross contamination. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, I guarantee that you will not have a problem, just tell me what you want and I’ll make it for you. I had no problems at all, we went back there the next night, and he had made gluten free bread for me. So there are heart warming tales sometimes. I feel this is the only way I can eat out, no rest. chains at all, except Ruth Chris, GD, I am going there on Friday. Chef Cook assured me the same as Chef Jose. I’ll keep you posted.
Well those are my thoughts for the day. Thanks again Gluted Dude!
Aloha
You did it! 31 blog posts. Great job Dude, you are cultivating a wonderful community 🙂
Awesome Job, as always, GlutenDude! TY for the inspiring & equally original individual posts! 🙂
Regards,
Dougie
Bravo! You stuck to your plan and did, indeed, write a new post each day! I’m impressed. And great posts, too. A mixture of different topics that needed to be addressed.
Don’t stop posting! I’m hooked. I haven’t found another place on the web that allows me to vent about the frustrations of avoiding gluten and laugh at the same time. With all due respect to other “gluten-free” bog sites, this sets you apart from the usual recipes and medical information. I know how to eat and I currently scope all current medical info from reputable sources. (I wish my primary phyician did the same.) Your site lets us VENT about living in a gluten-filled world and share our experiences with others. Your viewpoint in blogland is unique, and it feels really good to know we aren’t alone in sharing it.
I suppose those with soy allergies could possibly have it worse than we do (*moment of silence……*.), but I know for a fact that peanut allergies don’t hold a candle to the frustrations that we share. (So sorry, Son-In-Law, but you and my daughter have no idea how easy it is to work around your allergy at Thanksgiving and other holidays vs. my gluten-intolerance. Why do you thnk we host all holidays and celebrations at our house?. How I wish WE (gluten-peeps) had an EpiPen!
Keep the posts coming, Gluten Dude! We hear you and you speak for all of us! Thank you for giving us a voice.
Rather than say “Wow…thank you” 13 times, I’ll just say it once.
WOW…THANK YOU so much for your kind words and your support. It means the world to me. I’m humbled and I’ll continue to do my best to keep you informed, enlightened and entertained.
You folks seriously rock!!
NO, YOU DO!
Gluten Dude…..This is my first comment, but I have been reading your site. I love it. I feel so at home here. I have been Celiac a long time (28 years) & still there are so many struggles for us. At the same time, I am thankful. Especially thankful to find your site & read your stories, hear from Mrs. Dude & your daughter, be able to smile when reading your humor, & be able to feel comfortable knowing I am not some find of freak 🙂 ….I mean, to feel comfortable knowing I am not alone in this. Sometimes other people are not so supportive. Reading your posts & the posts of others here helps more than I can tell you. When I need some support or I need to laugh (it helps) 🙂 this is where I come. Thank you for your inspiration.
I mean some kind of freak 🙂
PS……. I see that another Phyllis has posted, so I will change my name to phyllis712